Do you work at Compass?
Get expert insights from financial advisors who specialize in helping Compass employees and executives make the most of their compensation package and benefits.
Looking for a financial advisor who specializes in working with Compass employees? You’re in the right place. Below, you’ll find advisors who understand Compass benefits and compensation — along with their answers to common financial questions from Compass employees and executives.
Whether you recently joined Compass or you’ve advanced into a management or executive leadership role over a multi-year career, making smart decisions about your income and Compass benefits can have a lasting impact on your financial future. For example:
✅ Do you know the right moves to get the greatest value from the Compass benefits available to you?
✅ If you’re thinking about leaving Compass for another job or planning to retire in a few years, are you taking the right steps today to receive all the compensation and benefits you’ve earned?
Key Takeaways
Equity Compensation Is a Significant Part of Compass Pay
Because so much compensation comes through equity, the advisor below helps employees use open trading windows to manage tax exposure and follow a multi-year plan.
Decide How Much of Your Plan Should Rely on Compass Equity
Equity compensation is variable and hard to quantify but can be significant. Setting clear rules for how it’s treated in the plan keeps goals on track.
A High-Paying Compass Role Can Feel Like Golden Handcuffs
Modeling potential exit or career-change paths ahead of time makes it easier to decide whether and when to move on.
Why Compass Employees Work with a Specialist Financial Advisor
Throughout the year, Compass provides its employees and executives with updates about their benefits, ranging from health insurance and health savings accounts to retirement plans like a 401(k) — along with equity compensation, health insurance, and family benefits. While the company offers many useful resources and access to knowledgeable staff who can assist with questions, you’ll also find financial professionals not affiliated with Compass who specialize in helping Compass employees make the most of their income and benefits.
Compass is headquartered in New York City, and its agents and employees work in offices across the United States. Whether you work at headquarters, another office, or remotely from home, you may have questions about your compensation package and benefits better suited for a financial professional who can offer unbiased advice and guidance.
Sensitive topics — like the steps you should take before quitting your job at Compass to work elsewhere, protecting yourself in advance of a corporate layoff, or deciding when you should plan to retire — are all conversations that may be more comfortable with a trusted financial advisor.
Should You Hire a Compass Specialist or a Local Financial Advisor?
You’ll likely find dozens of nearby financial advisors well-suited to help you reach your money goals with a personalized plan. But it can be harder to find a financial advisor who specializes in serving Compass employees. Fortunately, many financial advisors offer virtual services, so you can meet online no matter where you (or they) live — which means you can hire a specialist financial advisor who lives hundreds of miles away if their knowledge and experience working with Compass employees is the better fit for your unique needs.
💡 In the Q&A below, you’ll gain insights from financial advisors who work with Compass employees to help them make smart decisions, get the most value from their compensation and benefits, reduce their money stress, and prepare for a comfortable retirement.
🙋♀️ Have a question not yet answered? Use the form below to submit your question. You can also contact financial advisors directly to set up an introductory call or contact them with your questions.
Q&A: Financial Planning Tips for Compass Employees & Executives
In this section, you’ll learn how you can make the most of your Compass employee benefits and gain valuable tips from financial advisors who specialize in working with Compass employees and executives.
Financial Advisor Q&A · Compass Employees
Jackie Lewis, CFP®, MBA
Wealth With Options · San Diego, CA · Serves clients nationwide
Helping clients build wealth with equity compensationJackie Lewis is a financial advisor based in San Diego, California who works with Compass employees on financial planning considerations related to their benefits and compensation. Jackie helps clients understand and evaluate their Compass benefits and compensation within the context of their broader financial picture so they can make informed decisions about their financial future.
QAs a financial advisor with experience helping Compass employees save for their retirement, how do you help them make the most of their employee benefits?
Compass has some great benefits and we help you understand and evaluate the benefits available to you. This includes helping you with equity compensation, retirement accounts, health insurance and family benefits within their overall corporate benefits package.
QWhen you first speak with a Compass employee, what questions do you like to ask to better understand their unique circumstances and determine how you can best help them achieve their goals?
Compass provides robust equity compensation packages so we help you to strategize around ways to manage equity compensation and evaluate tax considerations when liquidating stock based on your unique situation and needs. This leads to questions such as: What are your goals in life? How long do you hope to stay with Compass? What would you like to do for your family? How well do you feel you understand your equity compensation? Do you have an idea of what taxes you may owe with your total compensation package?
QBeyond Compass employee benefits for retirement savings, are there other types of benefits offered by the company that you find valuable to discuss with your clients?
Compass provides a significant portion of your compensation through their equity compensation so we guide you through how to leverage this during an open window with the goal of managing tax exposure and we help you develop a multi-year plan that you can reference over time.
QFor Compass employees who have managed their finances on their own to this point, what would you suggest they consider to help them decide if they should begin working with a financial advisor at this stage in their lives?
An advisor can help with short-term decision-making such as equity compensation decisions, tax advantaged guidance, etc. and also with bigger-picture thinking (i.e. creating a framework so you can see the direction all your hard work is taking you, and make sure your money behaviors are aligning with your life goals). A client is often already doing many of the right things and the value of the planning process is to put things in a broader framework to allow for proactive/intentional decisions to be made as well as being a sounding board and accountability coach for the client.
We encourage DIY investors to consider the potential cost of NOT getting a second opinion. Investment management is one thing, but retirement planning often involves significant nuance to it that many people may overlook such as:
- How will my investments be taxed? Can I minimize my lifetime taxation? Am I taking too much (or not enough) risk in the markets?
- What is my plan to turn my assets into income? What are the tax implications of doing that?
- Am I going to run out of money? How should I deal with Inflation? What about long-term care?
- Are my beneficiary designations up to date? Do I understand what’s going to happen to my assets when I pass?
- Do I need life insurance? Do I have enough or too much? Should I keep these old policies?
There are a number of different areas that a Certified Financial Planner® professional may be able to provide value to a recent retiree, even if they choose to continue to manage their own investments.
QWhat are some of the unique financial planning challenges you commonly see among your clients who are Compass employees and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?
A good, high-paying job can feel a bit like golden handcuffs sometimes and it can be hard to imagine walking away. But, if you want to prepare for an exit or a shift to a different industry, we can help model potential pathways for the transition. In a role with equity compensation, a challenge can be to define how much should you rely on that compensation in the plan. It’s variable and can be hard to quantify but can be significant. So, having a firm structure based on a client’s comfort with exposure and how it’s treated in the plan is important.
QWhat questions do you recommend Compass employees ask financial advisors they’re considering hiring to help them decide if they’re a good fit?
Are you a fiduciary? Do you have to act in my best interest? Will you be providing comprehensive financial planning or just investment management? What will I pay in fees? Are there any hidden fees in the products you’re recommending?
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About the Author
Brian Thorp
Founder & CEO, Wealthtender · Editor-in-Chief
Brian Thorp is the founder and CEO of Wealthtender and serves as Editor-in-Chief. With over 25 years in the financial services industry — including nearly 22 years at Invesco, where he led strategic partnerships with wealth management firms representing more than $100 billion in assets — Brian founded Wealthtender to help people find financial advisors they can trust and make more informed money decisions.
A member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals and its SEC Marketing Rule Working Group, Brian was recognized by WealthManagement.com as one of its “Ten to Watch in 2024” for his work reshaping how financial advisors market their services. He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin.
Brian and his wife live in Austin, Texas.